1. Filed of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data distributing system, a data distributing method, a server, and a terminal device for transmitting and receiving data between the server and the terminal device through a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, along with the popularization of digital AV equipment, so-called commercial content (including content for commercial use, content for sale, and professional content), such as music and video, are on the market in the form of CD and DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) and, at the same time, various kinds of content are marketed and distributed through networks. Further, along with the popularization of ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and FTTH (Fiber To The Home), P2P (Peer to Peer) systems based on the Internet have become reality.
As a related-art technology, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-236768, for example, discloses a content providing method and system, a content providing program, and a recording media storing the content providing program that are intended to minimize the unauthorized distribution of content and enhance user convenience.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-114949 for example, discloses a data processing method and apparatus, a data access method, and a terminal device. In a system enabled for data transmission and reception between terminal device and server via a network, a file group is formed by a plurality of files managed by a server and the file group is labeled for each owner. If, in accessing a file, the file is contained in the file group of the owner, the accessed file can be downloaded and/or streamed without restraint for reproduction; if the file is not contained in the file group of the owner, a part of the accessed file can be streamed for reproduction.